Hercules Cursed
by Thor2000
Summary: In a sequel to Xena:Goddess, Discord is possessed by an ancient dragon spirit in Antequeria and it's up to Hercules, Athena and the Mexican gods to prevent the extinction of the Immortals of Earth as a result.


CHAPTER ONE

It had been weeks since Gabrielle's possession had forced her to attain godhood and storm Olympus. The ancient and forgotten Hyborian city of Antequeria was now truly a hazardous place to be after her wake of destruction. Long buried since a forgotten Cimmerian warrior king once walked its fairways, the city had since caved in at several places and other once preserved chambers were now lost as two would-be treasure-hunters lurked in the dark bowels of the shifting city looking for treasures left behind by the lost city.

"Let's forget it," The ever opportunistic Salmoneus looked around the buried rooms. "We ain't going to find it. It's truly lost this time."

"I ain't giving up." Autolycus shot him a look. "It was enough king's ransom for the two of us. If I have to steal fire-powder from the Chin, we are going to locate it."

"If another trap doesn't kill us." Salmoneus whined as usual in the dimly lit tunnels. "And for what? A giant jeweled serpent encrusted in rubies and emeralds with giant diamonds for eyes, and you're the only one who saw it. If it exists..............."

"It exists." Autolycus tried to retrace the path Gabrielle had taken him through before back when she was possessed by Alyssia, but the tunnels and markers he'd seen the first time were  
destroyed in the cave-in and the resulting damage had shifted everything else. The buried ruins almost a mile under ground were preying on his imaginations. Fragile skeletal remains preserved in these cold dank chambers waited them around every turn. He started down a passageway and met another cave-in.

"Let's go back that way..." Autolycus moved his torch. "I think I saw another cave."  
A burst of light in a darkened part of the precipitated another visitor. Her immortal eyes more intoned to see in the dark, Discord the goddess of strife peeked around the ruined statue of a forgotten Hyborian god that predated her ancestors and watched the two cretins wandering around in the dark with torches. Their fires lit up her eyes as they heard her presence getting closer.

"Who's that?" Salmoneus shone his torch to the shadows. "There's someone down here with us !"

"No, there's not........." Autolycus didn't believe him until he saw the legs appearing in his light. He moved his torch up slowly over lovely alabaster skin trussed up in leather and noticed alluring black hair and cold dark eyes peering back at him. Discord glared into his  
presence.

"Discord!!!"

"Idiots!" She snarled as she reached out and conjured a tornado. Their torches went out as the buried city with all its forgotten frescos turned black. Autolycus and Salmoneus felt themselves hurled back, thrown against the walls like toys being abused by a child and then shot toward the light. A mile above ground in the light of day, Autolycus shot out the old well entrance first and crashed to the ground hard. His eyes went wide as Salmoneus dropped to earth too and landed on top of him.

Discord rolled her eyes in disgust and walked through the thick darkness alone. There had to be something down here she could use to defy Ares and the other gods in her bid for control of Olympus. If a simple secret of alchemy could transform that bard into a Titan, what could the same thing or something more potent do to someone who was already a god?

Blocked by a cave in, Discord twisted her hand and forced the passage to restore to normal. Five tons of soil, rock, debris and damaged supports yielded to her power and presence and opened the corridor to her as she continued on through the old city. Marching through, her foot tapped a loose tile as a spear shot at her. It stopped halfway through her and impaled in her stomach.

"Yeah right." No one had expected a god to come through here. She pulled the archaic weapon out of her abdomen and tossed it aside as she continued onward. The tunnel dipped and split to a huge chamber divided into burial vaults. Several warriors were buried in wall niches with their weapons and armor. Their bones covered in dust, they didn't react as the petite goddess entered through an arch into another chamber.

Discord stopped at the sight of the jeweled serpent. It's huge diamond eyes seemed to be expecting her as it looked at her with immense desire. Its hide was encrusted with gems and sapphires between scales of gold and silver. Discord just passed by it as she sensed mystical potential somewhere. She turned on her heel and began turning over old bones and ruined armor in her search. Some of the potions in these old flasks had turned to inert dust.

She looked up as her ears detected rustling. Something was in the room again as she looked over her shoulder. The head on the serpent statue had changed direction and was now looking at her. From the entrance she had come through to the place she was now standing. She just ignored it and turned back to her search.

There was a hiss from it.

"Oh please........." She frowned and shot a bolt of lightning on it, but it just bounced off and damaged part of the room. The so-called statue was alive and moving toward her!

"Get back!!" She fired another dosage of power, but it also was of no use. She stepped back to channel as much of her power as usual as her foot caught in the bones of another long dead mortal corpse. Landing flat on her back, she looked up as the jeweled statue came after her. Whatever entity trapped in it had learned to control its prison and sensed Discord's immortality. The tiny goddess screamed as it lunged for her.

CHAPTER TWO

Since restricted to Olympus and forbidden to visit Asgard, Dilmun or Heliopolis, Hermes had to look to look to other victims to share his weird sense of humor and spirit of competitive play. He didn't have the gumption to tease Poseidon nor Demeter, and Athena had no sense of humor. Dionysus was more of a partner in crime and Apollo was no fun at all. The likely choice was Ares because he always threatened to get even and always a lot of fun to tick off. His new joke was to hollow and stretch out a piece of flask after it became rubbery and then fill it with water and then dropping it from a great heights on his victims.

"If mortals ever found a way to duplicate this," Hermes looked to Pan, his spirited goat-legged son. "Gods help us all." They looked down from over the central courtyard of Celestial Olympus and sighted Ares stroll out toward the path to the Areopagus. They dropped their weapon and grinned briefly as its descent slowed in the air and came to a spot hovering over Ares' head. The god of war rolled his eyes disgustedly, plucked the water filled weapon out of the air and peered up to his annoying younger brother.

"Toys," Ares looked up a bit annoyed. "You're fooling with a master, boys. Get yourselves a real weapon." He glared a bit with a snarl. He lurched back to throw their weapon as Hermes vanished in a puff of light and smoke and Pan vanished with his feet clapping down the upstairs marble hall above his head. The war-god rolled his eyes as the water weapon slightly gurgled in his hand. It would make a neat trick to toss at someone else, especially one who was at the butt of all his abuse.

"Discord." He grinned with a laugh and turned to the direction of her chambers in the Areopagus. He heard Discord breathing as he advanced on her presence. Her back was to him as she gasped and hissed under breath as if she were plotting something.

"Hey, sis," He grinned chuckling at her. "A little payback for setting me up with Thor." He tossed it and splattered the back of her head. She looked back at him with fire in her eyes; she appeared a lot more hostile this time. Ares gave her a look wondering what she was going to do about it.

Zeus turned at the direction of the explosion. It was one of Poseidon's rare visits to Olympus to report on that Mesopotamian god Ea's encroachment to their realm of worship as they both saw Ares slide into the main hall, crash off a pillar and tumble down a flight of stairs. They looked to expect Apollo or Athena tossing him around, but it was Discord's face coming down the hall. She was moving too fast and acting darker than usual. She darted into the hall and reared herself up on a long snake-like body.

"Discord?" Zeus grabbed a thunderbolt as Poseidon reached for his trident. Where a mortal woman might scream and run, Hera and Demeter stood their ground at the possessed goddess. Her hand to her chest, Hera lightly dropped her jaw wondering what her daughter had unwillingly brought into exalted Olympus.

Hissing toward her relatives, Discord reared up and swung her tail through the chamber dodging thunderbolts and weapons. As Apollo charged in and readied his bow, she swung her tail and knocked him to his feet. Zeus tossed another thunderbolt, but its aim was of no use. It bounced off Discord's chest as she coiled her body below her waist around Ares and then around Apollo. Kratos and Bia in their indestructible armor came running into the fray as screams of war and battle filled the great hall. Nike herself flew into the high ramparts as Nemesis fired arrows of flame.

"She possessed by a Naga!!" Poseidon grabbed his trident and covered the escape of the Muses.

"I thought the Titans killed them off years ago!!" Hera threw another lightning strike to defend herself. Her daughter's long serpent stretched longer and wrapped around its squeezing coils around her.

"Discord must have found one of them." Zeus watched as his daughter continued dragging more and more of her long serpentine body into the hall. After biting her venom into Ares and Apollo, she turned to him and Poseidon. Hephaestus had tried to hit her with his hammer, but she tossed him off. From the blacksmith-god's side non-thinking creatures of liquid metal rose to fight for him and were melted by the flames spewing from her throat. Nike reared her bow and arrow up just before she was smashed into the wall. Artemis was thrown from the ramparts as Dionysus retreated. Demeter attempted to slip past as she became caught in the coils of her niece as well.

"Discord, here!!!" Poseidon taunted his dark-haired niece as she loomed close, caught him by the arm and buried her long teeth into his neck. Normal dragons were one matter, but these ancient creatures had more power than normal immortals. Reportedly, Oceanus the Titan nearly died because of them.

"Father!!!" Athena vaulted over her hated half-sister and just barely avoided getting trapped in her coils. The distraction was a costly one as Discord shot forward to her and caught Zeus trying to protect her. The lord of Olympus groaned as the Naga venom sank into the ichor in his veins. His screams shook the heavens and the skies cracked asunder by his godly will.

"Hermes?!!!!!!!" Athena screamed at the top of her immortal lungs for her crafty brother. Poseidon fell to the ground lifeless as the owl-goddess held on to her father and vanished with him in a worthwhile retreat. Discord shot her eyes to where she once more and clawed at the empty air where she once was.

"Noooooooooooooooo............" Discord hissed from behind the creature she became. "I can't ssssssssssstop mysssssssssssssself........... Come Backkkkkkk…" Her face snarled and contorted in pain as a ironic tear fell from her face.

CHAPTER THREE

Among saving people and stopping power-mad despots, Hercules and Iolaus sometimes got the time to enjoy the luxury their popularity created. Sometimes it was to be embarrassingly honored by the inhabitants of villages they saved, but today it was judging a beauty contest in Poteideia, Gabrielle's hometown. While the bard and Xena were over in Phrygia, the son of Zeus and his best friend got to look over the most beautiful the town had to offer.

"I'm voting on Lila, Gabrielle's sister." Iolaus picked up a quill.

"Because you think she's worthy," Hercules asked. "Or because you think you owe it to her."

"Both." Iolaus answered as the emcee stood before everyone. "And now, our last contestant, Pandia!!!"

"Who?" Hercules looked up with a start. Pandia seemed to have it all. Intoxicating figure, big mysterious brown eyes and long brown hair, which draped and caressed down over her bosom. She was flawlessly perfect as she grinned and enraptured all the men before her. The ladies and other contestants felt unworthy and then insecure as Pandia pretended to lose her top.

"Whoops!" She cooed. "They don't make these the way they used to...." She giggled precociously.

"Oh boy...." Hercules rolled his eyes unimpressed.

"I think we have a winner!!!" Iolaus stood up and screamed in delight. "Herc?"

"I don't think so." Hercules whispered. "Pandia's my sister. She lives for this stuff. That's why others call her the goddess of beauty and perfection and I'm not getting into another fight between her and Aphrodite. This contest is for mortals only."

"But Hercules..........." Pandia had heard him as the townsfolk of this farming community went wild.

"Sorry," Hercules stood and wandered up in front of her. "But Lila's the winner."  
There was a moment of shock and confusion as Lila made a second look and beamed happily. Pandia dropped her alabaster jaw in disgrace and shot a dirty look at her half-brother.

"Hercules, how could you?!" She pouted adorably trying to sway him.

"Take it up with our father." Hercules looked at her closing up her top as Iolaus grinned at the peek. "Or better yet, your mother, the moon-goddess."

"But everyone knows I'm the most beautiful..."

"Get over it." Athena appeared in a burst of light in her armor and pushed her aside. Her traditional helmet was askew and her gold aegis was tarnished as if she had just come out of a war. "Hercules, we have a problem."

"Tell Ares to take a hike." Hercules passed by Iolaus as they moved out of the tent.

"It's not that.........." Athena looked at him with her gray eyes. "Father has been poisoned."

"Daddy?" Pandia stood shocked.

"Zeus?" Iolaus looked over. "What happened?"

"Discord became possessed by the spirit of a Naga and stormed Olympus." Athena continued talking as she removed her helmet to her long dark hair. "With its power, she took over Olympus and conquered the main pantheon, but most of everyone fled for cover. I took father to Heliopolis to be cured by Imhotep, their god of medicine, but he can't do it alone."

"So what does he need?" Hercules was hesitant to help the gods, but they were still the only family he had left.

"Ingredients owned by the Coatli, the gods of the west." Athena answered. "I've only been in touch with one of them and I hear they're mostly disagreeable. I want you to come with me as back up."

"Hercules?" Iolaus looked at him. Pandia acted vulnerably as she tried to think of something to add.

"Okay," Hercules answered. "But what sort of gods are these Coatli? Are they dangerous?"

"Their worshippers are on a continent as far from us as we are from Chin." Athena replied.

"They live in the realm of Xibalba and I'm told they demand blood sacrifices."

"Oh boy," Hercules didn't have a chance to change his mind.

CHAPTER FOUR

Athena had met the gods of the Yucatan only a few times. Her main contact with that world was Quetzalcoatl, the culture-god. He described his pantheon as what the Olympians might have been like had the Titans remained in power with them. Itzamna ruled the hierarchy with benevolent intent, but there were dark members of his family who demanded blood sacrifices and even darker practices. Much of their power had waned since the Aztecs races on Earth turned against the gods of their Mayan ancestors to worship Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli. Hercules had to mumble through their odd names as he felt himself pulled across lands he knew and beyond Erytheia, Gaul, Britain and Eire for the great western ocean. Their world was quite unlike Olympus. Adjacent through a portal hidden below ground from mortals, Xibalba was a multi-layered realm with pyramids almost but not quite the Egyptian pyramids.

"Pyramids?" Hercules looked down from an underground canyon to a land covered with its own sky and sun.

"Don't ask them about it." Athena led the way cautiously than appearing too suddenly and insinuating an invasion. "They claim the Egyptian gods stole the idea from them." She led the way down the golden path into the golden city as a shadow scurried above their heads. It pranced and glided from rock face to rock face on leathery wings.

"How well do you know them?" Hercules asked. "How can they help Zeus?"

"They were killing Nagas long after the Titans were overthrown." Athena continued slowly. "They have weapons and access to secrets even those obnoxious Mesopotamian gods don't possess."

"You can stop there," A voice came out of nowhere. A bearded figure wearing lizard skins and a feathered arraignment stepped into the path. His hair was darker than Greek and his skin tone almost red. His manner was tribal with regal overtones. "Athena, you take a chance bringing a mortal here." His voice stammered with an accent over their foreign language.

"Quetzalcoatl," Athena stood defiant in this mission of peace. "We come for assistance against a Naga in possession of one of our own, and this is no mere mortal. My brother, Hercules."

"Hercules?" The Feathered-Serpent spoke it as if he knew the name. "The infamous half-god whose name reverberates through the many heavens. I've heard tell of your glories."

"Believe me," Hercules was in no mood to be smug. "Most of it is actually exaggerated..."

"Exaggerated or not..." A high-pitched voice answered from the shadows. "It's blood of a worthy champion..."

"Camazotz?!!" Quetzalcoatl heard the scream of his hated cousin, the bat-god. Hercules barely looked up as the speed of the creature paralleled that of Pegasus. He felt human-like claws grab his shoulders and pull him off the ground as Athena drew her sword. She darted with urgent haste herself as she climbed the jagged peaks to reach her brother. As hard as she climbed, and as hard as Hercules fought, the sinister god of caves carried off the son of Zeus with malevolent glee.

"What will he do with him?" Athena turned to her old ally as Camazotz vanished as fast as he came.

"Sacrifice." Quetzalcoatl answered hesitantly. "And then a blood feast........."

CHAPTER FIVE

Hercules was wondering how he got into these fixes as he was carried high above the ground of this other world. Fighting and scuffling as hard as he could, he looked up at the large bat creature carrying him and punched it hard to the abdomen. That seemed to get it to let him go, but the predicament did not ensure a soft landing.

"Unnngn!!" He bounced off a ledge, slid down a cliff and crashed down into what seemed to be a courtyard. Before he could gather his bearings, he was grabbed by numerous hands and dragged against his will. These painted savage gods obviously did not know who he was entirely as he punched one and introduced them to the fine Greek art of wrestling. Feathers started flying through the air from their costumes.

"Spirited, this one." Tezcatlipoca looked upon his injured son. "A warrior with fire in his blood."

"And it's going to stay that way." Hercules pummeled another of the dark god's children. After years of tossing Ares around, these Mayan gods weren't much of a challenge, but Tezcatlipoca rarely used force when he had the power of the underworld at his disposal. He stirred the air around him as a dark cloud of spiraling smoke rushed to meet the son of Zeus.  
Hercules hesitated briefly as the smoke knocked the fight out of him. It seemed to drug him and leave him weak as he became dizzy and dropped to his knees, but then another breeze blew it away from him. He looked behind him as Athena and Quetzalcoatl jumped into the fray.

"My nephew and a foreign god..........." Tezcatlipoca grinned his evil smile. "Blood will have to be given for thanks." He stirred his dark energies again as his young foe stirred them away again. The Aztec gods spurned forward among their foes with unholy battle cries.

"Now, where's the.........." Tezcatlipoca had never been hit in the face before. Hercules fought back hard and turned round to another immortal who jumped into the fray wearing the carcass of a dead bear.

"Huitzilopochtli!!" Tezcatlipoca screamed. "Avenge me!!!"

"War god, right." Hercules dodged his swords several times then caught them and struck him across the neck. He remembered a movement he used to do with Ares and sent this counterpart to his half-brother down on to his back. Seeing his own half-brother at the abuse of another gave Quetzalcoatl a bit of respect for the half-mortal. Clashing swords by Athena's, his eyes looked upward as Hercules evaded more attacks. Sparks were cleaving from swords and daggers as the son of Zeus jumped to avoid another and hit the wall hard. Something shifted as water being squirting between cracks.

"Foreigner," Tezcatlipoca screamed. "Do you know what you did?"

"Knock down a dam?" Hercules looked as if he could care less as he hit it again. A torrent of water sprang forth and took down the rest of the wall of the underground realm. Hercules pushed Athena ahead as he looked down and saw one of the underworlds being flooded.

"Tlaloc won't like this." Quetzalcoatl mumbled. "You may have made a few enemies today."

"Another day, another problem........." Hercules mumbled.

CHAPTER SIX

Discord's possession was almost wholly complete as she slithered around and over the Olympian gods hanging by their feet as trophies from the ceiling. Her normal skin had burst out in several scales and her eyes had become something other than normal. Her small body at the beginning of her long serpentine body was growing larger and stronger as she embraced Ares and then slid down over him. The weakened war-god could barely move as his sluggish senses kept him from fighting. There was very little of his sister left as she collapsed on to the throne of Zeus. Her long hindquarters extended over much of the hall as she gasped and hissed still trying to adjust to the new sensations going through her. The tip of her tail caressed Ares one last time as he looked down on her.

"Was it good for you?" Ares mumbled a bit. "What's she doing to us?"

"She's mating." Poseidon answered in his similar weakened state. "Discord's still trying to fight off the Naga, but once it completes the possession, she will birth a whole new race of Nagas and serpent gods."

"And then?"

"Feed us to them." Poseidon looked around for his sisters and nieces. He had not seen them since their were carried off. He thought of the few who had escaped. Hermes, Pan, Asclepius, Dionysus and Janus were left to tackle any rescue attempts. It also left him wondering of the others who only randomly visited Olympus such as Hades, Helios, Nereus, Triton and the others who stayed more in the realm of man. They could not have known what was going on.

Discord played with Poseidon's trident a second before dropping it. Her energies spent, she rolled her eyes over the chaos she had created as she still tried to expunge the presence within her. It was still too strong as she rolled her eyes over the once great hall. She gasped in pain as the tip of her tongue darted between her lips. She noticed her reflection in a dropped shield and froze at her own horrible visage.

"No...." Her voice was weak and drained of vigor. Her entire face was covered in scales now and her face had reshaped to become more serpentine. She felt another great upheaval through her body as something else overtook her. The gods looked away as Discord screamed from the changes happening to her body.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Ixchel, the Queen of the Coatli, was a beautiful woman very unlike Hera. Quiet and unassuming, she looked with regal bearing with two bold brown eyes as her husband welcomed the strange gods. Huge and intimidating, Itzamna was a large figure of a man almost as large as Hercules. Bald with two powerful brown eyes and dark bronze skin, the lord of the gods of the Yucatan could only respect for anyone who could face his wicked nephew and survive.

"As your father was killing Titans," Itzamna walked the top halls within a mighty pyramid. "I and my kind were slaying what the Easterners call Nagas. Cipactli was the last. We carved her skin from her bones and used the magic from her body to give life and consecrate the earth so man could plant maize."

"According to the stories our worshippers repeat," Xolotl, Quetzalcoatl's brother, wandered through wearing the skin of a wild dog. "They think we actually created the planet from her body."

"I know how history gets twisted." Athena stood her ground. "After all these years, mortals still think I sprang from my father's head."

"From a mixture of her venom," Itzamna took down a chalice adorning a niche in the wall of the hall. "We created this cup. Anything you pour into it will become a cure to Naga venom." He caught some water from a waterfall outside the window in the cup as he charged the chalice with his own energies and presented it to Hercules.

"For you half-god," Itzamna looked upon him. "A bit extra........."

"A price?" Hercules sipped from the chalice to protect himself in advance should Discord bite him in a subsequent quarrel.

"It is how you look upon it." The Mayan Titan looked upon him. "The potion will render you briefly an immortal from dawn to dusk."

"For twelve hours." Athena sipped from the chalice.

"Wonderful." Hercules pretended to care.

"You will also need this." Itzamna pulled out his sword. "The weapon with which I killed Cipactli. It is the last of its kind and spawn from ancient designs from beyond the fifteen heavens of Earth. Use it wisely and quickly lest our world be overrun again. We have carved this world for our children and our children. Should evil break through its gates, mankind will be swallowed in darkness."

"And we don't want that, do we?" Hercules looked back upon Athena. Her gray eyes turned unamused toward him.

"Great sky father of the Yucatan," She turned to their benefactor. "We accept this boon and hope it guides our worlds through successful peace between Olympian and Coatli."

"May hope and fortune follow you." Itzamna sent them away in a burst of light.

"They're going to need it." Xolotl smirked at bit as he stood by his side.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Celestial Heliopolis was almost like the realm of the Coatli with all of their common pyramids and shapes, but the Egyptian heaven was filled with golden structures led into by their bridge of light. Mihos, the lion god and son of Bast, stood at the gates and held them at bay for a mere second before Bata, the bull-god, lead them to where they were expected. Hercules and Athena were led straight to the Temple of Imhotep the medicine god where Zeus had been hidden away. Sesma the wine-goddess took the Coatli chalice and filled it with elixir of immortality before lending it to Olympian thunder-god lying weak.

Hercules looked at the fallen god with a bit of indifference. The horizontal figure was his father, but the male immortal had done little to raise him. He watched as Athena lent by his side and placed her hand in his.

"Great Zeus," Athena looked over the wrinkles and impressions in her father's hand worthy of holding thunder and lightning. "You were born the son of a Titan, hidden from him and raised  
a mortal life until you found your destiny. Your hands have slayed giants, Titans and dragons and now you fall down before one of your own daughters." She tried to recall the emotions her mother Metis had forced her to reject. It was on her preaching that she had become goddess of wisdom, but her stoic and emotionless reasons often got in the way of her to feel for the ones she cared about.

"Naga venom can be deadly." Imhotep hovered over Zeus as he trickled more from the chalice through the thunder-god's lips. "I've done all I can to make him comfortable. I'm not sure what to make of this foreign magic."

"I think he's waking." Hercules stood watching.

"Athena?" Zeus slowly opened his eyes and looked around the room and faces. "Hercules? This isn't Olympus.............."

"Olympus has been taken." Hercules spilled forth with the news. "It took some doing, but we had to get a cure for the venom you received."

"Discord..." Zeus groaned like a mortal as he turned to his side. "How long has she..."

"It's almost been a day." Athena revealed.

"Then she may be buried deep within the belly of the beast." Zeus closed his eyes as he tried to think. "I see her with my mind. Lost and confused and in much pain. It will take much to save her."

"Is she worth it?" Hercules asked. "I mean, not to sound callous, but......... she's mean and nasty."

"It's not to us to teach her a lesson." Zeus stood as Imhotep supported him. "She must be turned on her own. Will you fight for us?" He looked to his son.

"What have I got to lose?" Hercules rolled his eyes as he took a deep breath.

CHAPTER NINE

Olympus was never meant to be dark and quiet. The entire realm beyond the sight of mortal man was filled with an intimidating silence as Zeus led Hercules and Athena back into the main hall. Once proud marble pillars that shone with the brilliance of the sun now possessed a dark pallor to them almost like that of Hades' palace in the Underworld. Zeus stopped and looked up as he recognized Ares, Poseidon, Apollo and the others hanging from the ceiling like trophies. None of them were conscious as the brave trio surveyed the shadows.

"Where's Discord?" Hercules asked as his voiced echoed back. His fingers tensed upon Itzamna's sword.

"She's here." Zeus answered as the static accumulating in his hands swelled into electricity. He waved his hand as the ethereal substance of Olympus started to light up once more and the clouds hiding it from earth fought to turn from dark grey to brilliant white. There was a hissing from a far and a burst of speed from the shadows.

"Look out!!" Hercules pushed Zeus from the mouth of the beast. He looked up himself and saw a face more hideous than the hydra. Huge black eyes peered back at him from a huge reptilian head. Rows of sharp teeth peeked out from a toothy grin as the beast looked them over. Hercules reared the sword ready to confront her.

"Hermes, keep her busy!!!" Zeus commanded his enforcements as a barrage of enchanted arrows and assorted lightning bolts plagued the great beast. Helios entered the hall with his fiery chariot and the white-haired Nereus shape shifted into his own dragon form to confront the great Naga in a similar form.

"Athena, revive the others." Zeus tossed his largest lightning bolts. "Hercules, keep her busy. This is about to get messy!!!"

"Messy?" Hercules looked up as the transformed Discord sunk her teeth into Nereus's neck trying to undo the serum in his body. He dodged past the arrows that Pan conjured out of Demeter's garden and ran straight to her undulated body. Hermes sped around her invisibly just inches from her coils as Helios' flaming arrows met their marks. Eos and Selene stood side by side with arrows at the ready. The two faces of Janus gritted their teeth together as he fired balls of light from his fingertips.

"Discord," Hercules sliced at her coils trying to wrap around him. A flash of her tail knocked the Coatli sword from his grip. His eyes watched as it sailed out of sight and then toward Nereus crashing to the ground overwhelmed in the stretching coils of the Naga.

"Here's a hug!!!" He grabbed her hindquarters hard and shook it hard as her head moved from the undulating motion and smacked into the great wall of the huge chamber. Not appreciating that attack, she shook off the sensation and lashed down to try and swallow him. Hermes sped as fast as he could on his winged feet and grabbed his briefly immortal brother from a fate worse than death. Athena filled the Coatli chalice with nectar to force into Poseidon's mouth.

The possessed goddess roared again at a new attack. The lighting bolts Zeus was throwing were hitting specific parts in her body. Grouped in a circle, the encircled region of her body was getting soft and vulnerable to attack as the ruler of the Olympian gods gestured as a mortal wizard to the huge boil he had created on the Naga. Within the transparent skin, Discord's immaterial spirit formed separate from the entity within her transformed body. One bold move from a far and the Naga's body exploded and expelled a small now physical body. Discord's naked body dropped to the ground unconscious as the pain of the expelled body forced the huge Naga to thrash once more. Olympus trembled as Athena was knocked off her feet. The chalice spilled and fell into the lake leading to Poseidon's realm.

"Hercules!!!" Zeus wrapped his youngest daughter in his cape and lifted her up. "I have Discord, but her soul is still trapped in the Naga. You're going to have to kill it to unlink them!!!"

"Kill it, he says." Hercules mumbled as pillars knocked down around them. Athena was fighting her way to retrieve the chalice from the lake as he looked over and saw white foam from where it had fallen. If anything in the chalice became serum, what about all the water in the lake going through it?

"Discord, over here!!!" He lifted up the longest of the shattered pillars and swung it like a huge club among the barrage of arrows, fireballs and flying figures. He hit her up side the head once more as her huge body toppled over the edge of the now open hall. Her body splashed into the lake as a huge torrent of water splashed the weakened gods knocked from the ceiling. Ares began stirring.

"Need help, Hercules?!!" Nereus took the pillar and knocked her again as another huge wave poured through the hall. Pan began grinning as Poseidon staggered to his feet. Apollo helped Ares up and they saw the battle being fought.

"Hercules!!!" Zeus still held his lifeless daughter.

"I'm a bit busy!!!" The prince of power pushed his might into the pillar holding the Naga's head into the lake. Poseidon rushed to add his strength, as did Hermes and Apollo. Janus and Dionysus never considered themselves heroes as they helped to kill the demonic dragon. Still trying to remember what was going on, Ares shook his head trying to reassert his bearings as  
the giant serpent stopped lashing out and gradually stopped moving. Having imbibed its own serum, it started dying and with one last shudder, it stopped living. The faint twist of its tail fell to a limp.

Discord gasped for air in her father's arms. Looking around tiredly, she brushed her damp hair out of her face and peered up into her father's face and then her naked body trussed up in his robe wrapped around her.

"Welcome home, starshine!" Zeus's huge voice cried out!

CHAPTER TEN

The potion rendering Hercules immortal had worn off and he returned back to Poteideia. Now asked to attend the wine festivals in Nysa, he and Iolaus were on their way to keep from offending them.

"That's some story." Iolaus carried the bag of supplies for the trip until he got tired. "So, Zeus pulled Discord out of the thing she turned into............ and then you killed it to save her soul?"

"Yeah," Hercules waved goodbye to the merchants who gave him the free food. "I didn't think she had one."

"What'd they do next?"

"Who?"

"The gods?" Iolaus wanted closure on the adventure. "I mean, you said they rebuilt Olympus, but what did they do with the giant dead dragon body?"

"Oh!" Hercules smirked a bit. "They had a really big barbecue."

"What?!" Iolaus stopped halfway down the path.

"Kidding," Hercules grinned a bit. "They destroyed it. Every single piece of it."

"Oh…"

"Hercules!" They heard a voice calling out as Gabrielle's sister, Lila, came running. She came running down the path carrying her beauty contest award as if she couldn't part with it.

"Hercules," She gasped as she caught up. "I just want to thank you two for voting for me, but.......... I feel as if I don't deserve it. I mean, you knowing my sister and all."

"You earned it fair and square." Hercules insisted.

"Yeah," Iolaus mentioned. "Being Gabrielle's sister had nothing to do with it. You were the obvious winner."

"Really," Lila grinned as she felt her award being tugged away from her. She didn't see any other hands, but some force was trying to lurch it away. Sparks from out of the air suddenly appeared and revealed the briefly transparent form of her would-be thief.

"Discord!!" Hercules took his stance as his hate-filled sister returned to her ways.

"Hand it over!!!" She knocked Lila to her feet. "For the humiliation I went through, I deserve something in return and this ought to just about help me get over the ordeal I went through."

"For a beauty contest?!!" Iolaus looked at her. Hercules lifted up Lila.

"It's good enough." The petite goddess vanished in a burst of smoke.

"You know…" Hercules stood by Lila. "There is no way Pandia is going to let her keep that…"

END


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